Neutral Shadows

No matter how many browns, creams, and honey shadows I had, I always needed more! It took me many, many years to get the right shades and tones to make me truly satisfied with my neutral collection. I have finally reached the point where I am buying refills for eyeshadow! I prefer a softer, cooler brown for my eye. This means I typically don’t wear warm browns that have a lot of orange in them. (I did go through an orange phase last year- but we can talk about that later)

If you are just beginning your journey to finding the right shades, it is important to decide what finish you would like for your eyeshadow. In my opinion, you can NEVER go wrong with matte. Yes, even if you have mature skin. I promise big, chunky glitter won’t make mature eyes look any younger. A common misconception of matte shadow is that if you are dryer or have mature skin, that you should stay away. Heck no! Don’t get me wrong- I love a pop of shimmer and yes I sometimes even add a thick layer of disco glitter. But we are talking about neutrals! Matte shades blend really well and the formulas have come a long way! Here are some of my favorite neutral collections!

NYX Nude Matte Shadows – Retail for $4.50

Left to right: Kiss the Day, Underneath it All, Betrayal

For $4.50- you can’t go wrong! Well, you can..but not with these ones! The brown are very neutral and the cream is just gorgeous! These guys are super velvety and blend well. I used to use the darkest shade (Betrayal) in my eyebrows for about a year. Lasted all day long!

I would recommend using a good base with these. A lot of people use the Nyx Jumbo Pencils as a base, but those don’t work for me. I recommend a Paint Pot from Mac in Soft Ochre or Painterly.

Urban Decay Eyeshadow- Retail for $18

Left to right: Foxy, Secret Service, Blackout

Ok, I know the one on the left is 70% gone- I’m sorry! But that’s how serious it is! Two of these shadows came from my favorite palette- Naked 2. This is my fourth Foxy I have gone through! The perfect creamy beige! I love the new(er) formula from Urban Decay. Even though they are $18 (ouch) they are INCREDIBLE. So velvety and silky.

Secret Service is the shade I use to deepen my crease. It’s not too dark, but still adds the depth I’m looking for. Blackout- the BEST black shadow! Hands down. If you are still using Carbon from Mac; it’s time to upgrade ya! Carbon is a mere soft gray compared to Blackout. I love how easily it blends even thought it is a super pigmented black eyeshadow. Overall, these UD shades are my fav! (Another cool thing is you can pop out the shadows and put them into your own palette- yay!)

Mac Pro Longwear Eyeshadow- Retail for $21

Left: Carefree Right: Uninterrupted

$21 ouchhhhh but these shadows are huge! I love this line of Pro shadows from Mac. My questions is- why are they all not Pro? Depending on what formula you buy from Mac (Frost, Lustre, Matte etc.) the application could be completely different from another. Understandably so, however, Mac shadows quality differ from color to color within a certain finish. I find this to be rather irritating, but I’m glad I can at least swatch it in the store. Luckily both these shadows are super creamy and blend well!

I use Carefree as a brightener on the inner corner of my eye. i just a dab a bit with a small tapered brush and BAM! My eyes are awake! I prefer Carefree over Nylon (Frost) as Nylon is too bright for an everyday wear. Uninterruped is THE shade of the year! This brown is described as a “dark camel”. What I love about this warm brown is that is has deep yellow undertones but not red or orange. Works great to blend eyeshadows, buff on the lower lashline, and some people even use it as a blush!